Re: Session drumming
Originally Posted by
VIbes
To be a session drummer it takes excellent timeing, taste. knowing what not to play. You have to be able to play with click tracks sometimes. You have to be quick and creative on the spot. This is not something just anyone can decide they want to do and just jump into it. Unless your just born a exceptional musical drummer, it takes years of experience and talent to be a session drummer and then breaking into it is a whole other story. It is a completely different animal from performing live. I am not trying to dissuade you. I am just saying it's a long hard row to hoe, but nothing is impossible. Being a good reader is helpful but not always necessary.
Play with drum machines and your favorite records. You also need to be able to play any style of music. Record yourself playing a simple groove and listen back to it. Get to know studio owners and audio engineers. See if you can watch and listen to some sessions. If someone lets you, soak it in and listen.
People are paying a lot of money for studio time and they won't stand for a musician who can't get a song down in 2 or 3 takes. This is sometimes a high pressure situation with time and budget deadlines.
Yep, that's pretty good advice Vibes, couldn't have put it better myself. Networking, having a lot of musician friends who can recommend you for work definitely helps. I think part of the reason why I get a few calls is the fact that I also do percussion, especially much less common stuff. For example, yesterday I got a call from a guitarist I know who wants me to play at a Latin gig this Saturday - we're playing it sorta acoustically with guitar, bass and me doing percussion - congas, timbales, all that sort of stuff. Plus a week or so later will be sitting in doing percussion for the same guys, but a bigger band set-up, and they'd like me to put in some mallet stuff here and there, as they know I can get my head around that stuff. Sometimes I get to do overdubs using Middle Eastern sounds, or electronic percussion, it depends.Sometimes bits of work pop up because of bands that students know of might need me to help out with laying down drumtracks. Still, like anywhere on the planet, competition here is pretty hard, you have to use every trick up your sleeve to keep that phone ringing. The reality is that there is going to be quite a bit of "down-time" in between recordings, and there are quite a number of great players that have to do the "gig, teaching, session" routine in order to keep the ball rolling.
Last edited by Drumbledore; 05-18-2011 at 06:33 AM.
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